A side note, Kris's victory of American Idol isn't an upset victory AT ALL. Do people even know the meaning of an "upset victory"? It refers to someone very weak emerging as the winner among a group of strong people. Anyone, anyone who says that Kris is weak and that he didn't deserve it is a complete and total moron. I believe some Glamberts will agree with this, only the reasonable ones. America isn't blind, if Kris sucks, he wouldn't be in the finals. Well, with the exception of Taylor Hicks.
First up, the whole "anti-gay" crap is full of bullshit. Anyone who uses that to explain why Adam lost should be shot dead and trampled on. Seriously, if Adam lost because of his sexuality, then why did he even make it into the finals? Shouldn't he have been kicked out long ago?And for the record, there were anti-gay people supporting Adam. So no, Adam didn't lose because of his sexuality. In fact, NO ONE CARES.
Secondly, Adam reached his peak a long time ago while Kris has been steadily gaining momentum throughout the entire season and peaked at the right period, which is towards the end. It's like in Season 7 when Archuleta was giving 5 stars performance and the only thing he can do is remain where he is and watch as Cook became "a threat". The same theory applies here. Adam has been pimped by Simon since the beginning (it's disgusting really) and there's really nothing else for him to do but to watch as Kris grew. Therefore, when it came down to the 2 of them, Kris appealed more to the audience because of his personality, musical talents and the fact that each performance was something new. Adam's performance on the other hand, though spectacular, was the same thing over and over again. By the finals, we had already seen everything he had. Don't forget, Kris left us heartless with his stripped down performance of "Heartless" during the final 3 week. That was something new, the likes of which we didn't see from him during the entire season.
Thirdly, their personalities played a big difference. Kris, though "common" and boy-next-door, managed to captivate the audiences week after week. His music is very audience orientated and it appeals more to a significant part of society. He has the ability to change the song to fit his vocals and "puts his signature on it", at the same time, connect with the audience. On top of that, you can tell he loves the song he's performing and he feels for it. It's as though he read the lyrics beforehand and changed the song to capture its meaning. Even Kara DioGuardi praised Kris for his emotional connection with the audience time after time, the very same challenge she posed for Adam early in the competition. As I said to my fellow Kris Allen fans, he interested me with "Man in the Mirror", mesmerised me with "Ain't No Sunshine", captivated me with "She Works Hard for the Money", took my breath away with "The Way You Look Tonight" and completely took my heart with "Heartless".
Adam's performance, on the other hand, is good. As much as I don't really like him (bracing for hate mail), I'm not going to be ignorantly foolish to say he sucks or that he's not good. I have to say this though. One thing that puts me off is his constant "screaming" (subjective) and the close ups of his tongue. He needs to know that not every song calls for a falsetto. Sometime, even Glamberts can't deny this, it's really a bit ear-piercing at times and Simon gives him a standing ovation for it. Like seriously? Also, he goes over the top with his performances always. I know it's an Idol thing and that's what you're supposed to do, but he needs to tone it down and even Slezak says the same thing. After a while, it seems to me like he forgets he's on a concert stage and he thinks he's performing in a theatre. A theory that I have is that his "over the top" performances may have appealed to the Americans but the people in Asia aren't ready for those kind of performances. We're a more conservative society and seeing nail polish, eye liners and constant "screaming" on a guy isn't a social norm. Not to mention the sexuality issue. I have no qualms about that, but a lot of others do. And people know that those living in Asia can vote as well and it's the largest continent, so that may have affected the results as well.
Lastly, one thing I've noticed here in Singapore (yes, we can vote in Singapore, so there's no excuse not to vote), everyone supports Adam. However, most of them are just normal fans because they jumped on the Adam bandwagon after hearing about Adam through word of mouth. Yes, that's how we are. We don't often catch up on American Idol so we get the latest information through others who do. So when people say "Adam is good", they get that mindset stuck and never bother to really see who they support. So when the finals came, and it was time to really show their support, they didn't vote for Adam. They were just "fans" but apparently not enthusiastic enough to lift the phone and call. I voted for Kris during the finals after I realised like the week before that Singaporeans could vote. That's how real fans should show their support. No point saying "I'm an Adam fan" but your actions fail you. Basically, Adam garnered many fans, but they weren't that big a fan to vote for him even though it's free.
On a side note, the Glamberts were wasting time slamming the Kris fans for voting because they are convinced that Adam would win. During the 7 hours of voting, they were on the chatbox slamming the Kris fans while we were voting like crazy. Ergo, wasting time. And for the record, Gizmo IS NOT CHEATING. It's been recognised by American Idol as a voting medium.
Regarding the results, Seacrest, the 2 finalists and Paula said they have no idea how the votes were split. Which led many to believe that the margin was wide and they didn't want to publicise it. I, however, do not believe that 38 million votes came from Arkansas as they only have a population of less than 3 million. Hope this helps!
I've already consolidated everything I've read from other articles and I hope this manages to quash any rumors or assertions that American Idol is rigged or Kris doesn't deserve to win. Digressing away for a moment, I'll like to comment on some stuff that I felt was unfair.
Firstly, many people speculated that "No Boundaries" was written more for Adam because the notes were too high for Kris, and that everyone thought Adam would win. I was one of them. During the performance, you could see Kris was struggling with it (poor bloke) and looked relieved that it was over. I'm of course not going to deny that it posed problems for Adam as well. Then Kara gave some crap that she agreed it was too high for Kris and hopes that people vote for him based on the season instead of the song. Ok, one, you didn't even feature Kris much in the earlier part of the show because he was apparently "cannon fodder". So how do you want people to judge him based on the season? Two, you co-wrote the song and you didn't realise it was too high for him? What rubbish is that? Not to mention that the lyrics were cheesy and I thought they were throwing darts at nonsense lyrics on the board. However, it obviously backfired and Kris emerged victorious instead because of his musical ability to change the song to fit his vocals.
Secondly, according to an article I just read, New York Times writer Jon Caramanica said this of Kris. "At worst, he’s indefensible, utterly lacking in texture and range and interpretive imagination." I would like to ask Mr Jon Caramanica this. Where were you when Kris was performing "Ain't No Sunshine"? Or "Remember The Time", "She Works Hard for the Money" and just recently, "Heartless"? It seems that Mr Caramanica practices selective seeing and hearing because Kris has been praised for his changing of those songs. Furthermore, "Heartless" took the world by storm as Kris just sang together with his acoustic guitar and nothing else. That simple, stripped down version of "Heartless" won praises from all 4 judges for it's originality and even the recognition of Kanye West himself, the original singer of the song. So what exactly was Mr Caramanica judging on when he said Kris has no "interpretive imagination"? Pray tell.
Mr Caramanica also mentioned that Kris lacks "range". If he were referring to vocals, I would suggest that Mr Caramanica should try to visit a CD shop in the near future. Some of the best selling artistes have no wide range as well but they're still successful and it says a lot. It's wrong to generalise and assume that if you want to be a great singer, you need to hit every note in existence. If he were referring to song choices, I would again like to ask him where was he during Kris's performances? He has indeed performed a wide range of songs and even held his own during his duet with country singer Keith Urban. I wonder if Mr Caramanica even watched any of Kris's performances before making that critique.
That being said, I hope that people stop sulking and accept that Kris really deserve to win American Idol. I don't like Adam (hate mail...3,2,1 inbox full) but I acknowledge that he's a great performer in his own way. I wish both of them well and I'm anxiously awaiting Kris's CD to hit the stores.
1 comment:
Right on. I totally agree on your analysis.
NYTIMES SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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